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Huron Expositor, 1999-09-15, Page 44 -TRE NURON EXPOSITOR, $s•pt.n,bor 15, 1509 roksitor 1 /slat* *AMU A*t4 . Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Terri -Lynn Hort - Publisher Lorry Dalrymple - Sales Scott Hilgendorff - Editor Pot Armes - Office Manager Susan Hundertmark - Reporter Dionne McGrath S(bscriplions/Cbssilieds %Bowes Publishers Limited S -h fr-. d S., Media (-yov<, - ^ri> (e.m. E-mail us at sedorth@bowesnet.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES LOCAL.332 50 a year, in advance. plus 2 28 G S T SENIORS. - 30 00 o year. in advance. plus 2 10 G 5 T USA d Forek)n 28 44 o year n advance. plus $78 00 postoge, G 5 T exempt SUBSCRIPTION RATES Published weekly by Signal Star Publishing at 100 Mom 5t , Seaforth. Publication moil registration No 0696 held at Seaforth, Ontario Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typogrophical error. the advertising spoce occupied by the erroneous item, together with o,reasonable.olbwance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the opplicoble rote In the event of o typogroph(caLerror, odvertising goods or services of o wrong price. goods or services may not be sold Advertising is merely on offer to sett and may be withdrawn of any time The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or domoge of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other materiels used for reproduction purposes Changes of address orders for subscriptions and undeliverable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor • Wednesday. September 15. 1999 !Editorial and psiaess OMises - 100 Main Stroot.,Sitafortle Tele,hane 1519) 527-0240 Fax (519) 527-2959 Mailing Address - P.O. Cox 69, Seaford', Ontario, NOK IWO Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association Publication Mail Registration No. 07605 Editorial Public ignores opportunities to be heard, then gets upset when decisions are made It's not uncommon for people to wait until the last minute to perform a task or make a decision. It's a general characteristic that isn't always a sign of laziness either. It can be a case of people wanting to make sure all the input is there before making that decision or that the timing is just right before completing the task at hand. But sometimes, opportunities are there for people to take action and they don't, not realizing that by waiting for that better moment, it's not going to come. Take, for example, a decision to move Tuc.kersmith Township's office from Vanastra to Seaforth. The fact that decision was being made was publicized more than nine months before it happened. It wasn't until it already happened that people became upset and voiced their objections to council. The time for that was nine months earlier, when there was still opportunity to possibly affect change in the decision. The issue of municipal restructuring has been ongoing for years now but only after many municipalities began working together on some solutions did a grassroots movement come forward asking for a one - tier system of government. The time was more than a year ago when Huron County Council was first looking at the issue. Then a decision was made and it wasn't until it was too late- that people decided they were unhappy with that decision. Now, the future of how ambulance services are provided is being determined and a series- of public -meetings-has-.been. _called in towns across Huron County. Again, the issue was reported in the newspaper and there were advertisements about the meetings. Generally speaking, only paramedics immediately affected by any decisions and employees within the medical and health care professions have been- at these meetings to offer their input. A rare opportunity to be directly involved in o decision-making process has been given and people aren't taking the opportunity. The public takes its amublance service for granted, not really thinking about paramedics unless they are in a position such as a car accident, where they are desparately needed. Then, people want fast, quality care. The time to join in is now, not when a decision is mode and people decide it's not one they like. If the decision is made and you didn't express your side, live with it. STH Opinion Plowing one of the oldest professions 1 have always remembered a column that ran for years in Ontario weekly newspapers. The author's name is lost to me but 1 have not forgotten the title. 1t was called "The Straight Furrow." It was not so much a column about plowing as it was about life and the title was a kind of message. For the writer knew that for centuries, these words meant more to people than just the turning of sod. They have grown to represent other things. Things like honesty, integrity, skill and plain hard work. It speaks to the future. Under the snow, the autumn furrow is a pledge of things to come, for a thousand years, it has been a sign of peace, "They shalt beat their . swords into ploughshares..." Isaiah 11.4. In age, it rivals the world's oldest profession for as early as 4000 BC. wooden plows in China were pulled by cattle. By 2000 BC, iron plowshares were in use in what is now Israel. Then in 1837, the year Huron County's Anthony Van Egmond led the revolt down Yonge Street against the family compact, a young John Deere introduced the steel moldboard. Unlike iron plows, it cut through hard. black soil without bogging down. Seventy years is a long time. But not long enough to blot out the memory of a five-year-old boy following behind Alec McNab as he ploughed Arnold Westcott's garden with the help of two brown Clydesdales. Many in Seaforth in the 1920s plowed up half their property to provide food for winter, although I was more interested in gathering the big worms pushed to the top by the shiny blade. Worms for dad and I to tempt the bass under the big iron bridge by Sam Scott's farm in Roxborough. My first plowing match was in 1946. I -was 22, working for the public utilities commission and spending my spare time writing for the Seaforth News: I think Seaforth was the only small town in Ontario with two weekly newspapers. - 1 was truly surprised when I was asked - by Farm Journal, the world's largest farm magazine, to cover the International Plowing Match at Port Albert. They wanted a 500 -word story and a selection of photos. It was my first big assignment. They sent me a cheque for 550. Dad's old Kodak was not up to the Clare Westcott job, although I did use it and still have some of the old black and white photos. The pictures I sent to the magazine in Philadelphia I got from the Windsor Star photographer. The match was opened by Canada's brand new Governor General, Lord Alexander. He was a highly decorated hero who fought in both world wars. He was the last man to leave the beaches at Dunkirk in 1940. Lord Alexander was introduced by Gordon McGavin. Twenty years earlier, almost to the day, Gordon McGavin, at 21, was named Champion Plowman of Canada. This soft spoken Walton farmer died at 71. His leadership in the world of agriculture spanned the years Canada was making the transition from an agrarian society to a modern industrial state. Over the next few days, miles of furrows were turned on airport land where only months earlier planes took off and landed, training air crew for the R.A. F. and the R.C.A.F. 1 remember it as the golden age of the land. My dad survived and raised a family through the 20s to the 40s, selling and repairing watches and clocks. Quite often, Huron County farmers did not pay in dollars but in eggs, butter and meat. A farmer and his son would come to dad's store after leaving sacks of grain for chopping at Aberhart's Mill. The son was there to choose a diamond ring for his intended mate. Father was there to arrange payment and make sure the lad's exuberance of the moment didn't break the bank. - Yes, life was changing in 1946. But rural Ontario still decided who would run the government at Queen's Park. Rugged old Tom Kennedy was minister of agriculture. Farmgroups were strong and respected. Our old fashioned family values were seen in our respect for each other. We prayed in church, at home and in school. We were a more predictable lot and the pace of life was slower. I remember the graciousness and civility of those days. Along the way, it seems, we have lost much of it. The Star, the Telegram, the Globe and C.B.C. had farm reporters and editors. The by-line on the Globe's front page story on the opening of the 1946 Plowing Match read, "Eldon Stonehouse, rural reporter." I don't believe we thought much about it then, but something was happening. Ontario was beginning to move into another age. One -room schools were still around in great numbers but more sons and daughters of the land were finishing high school and thinking about becoming doctors and lawyers and whatever -not farmers. Although there were changes in farming from the time of the first plowing match in 1913 to the 1946 match, the attitude. and feeling about farming and its strength and importance was still strong. The nostalgia and romance of the land. and its greatness. went back to our grandfathers and great grandfathers who came to settle in the Huron Tract in the mid 1800s. To survive. they had to first plow and till their own plot of land. That first gathering of plowmen in 1913 was held on land now home to Sunnybrook Hospital. Some early matches in the 1920s were held in the counties of Wentworth, Oxford and Leeds before some unusual spectators. These matches were held on land belonging to the Ontario Government at what were then called lunatic asylums. In 1930, about the time 1 was picking up worms behind Alec McNab's plow in Seaforth. four-year-old Virginia McNamara was attending the plowing match with her mother and dad. Their ,land adjoined the Bradshaw farm on highway 7, a few miles south of Stratford in Downie Township. Bert Bradshaw went on to become the Tory member of Parliament for Perth. When that four-year-old finished business college. she came to work at the Seaforth Clinic. We met and married. Early- in the morning on October 17th, 1954. 1 left Seaforth withVirginia and all our worldly possessions. We were heading for Scarborough to our new house. I was driving a 1946 Dodge truck' We were unaware that in and around Toronto. people were waking up to the century's worst disaster. The SM PtOW1N43, Page 5 Soccer is now the big game in Seaforth September 15, 1899 Wrn.Elliott is here from Minnesota. He•has been engaged in the cheese and creamery business in the West. Master Bish Neelin, met - with a painfic! accident. He was driving to the station and had a trunk in his buggy. The horse shied. thro►►•ing the little fellow out. breaking his arm. A young man named Casselle gave some wonderful performance across Main Street from D.D. Wilson's brick building to the Queen's Hotel. The brick work on IV Fear's new residence is nearly complete. John Aird, assistant manager of the Bank of Commerce has been appointed manager of the Winnipeg office. He will be succeeded as assistant manager by Massey Morris. S.A. Dickson, goes to Toronto to take a position in a law office and w attend lecturers al Osgoode Hall. • The Broadfoot .and Box Furniture Company are preparing to add a large addition to their rooms on Main Street. Master Frank Sills of town has returned to Sandwich to resume his studies in Assumption College. A Syrian woman, carrying a pack was the latest curiosity on the Leadbury line: The auction sale of John W mutledge of 7hckersmith was a decided success. The amount of the sale was 52,000. Thos. Brown of Seaforth was the auctioneer. Merner Bros. of Zurich evaporating factory was burned to the ground. The fire started in one of the rooms and in 20 minutes, the place was in ruins. ' September 12,1924 Clavor Eckart who is engaged with Fred Eckart In the Years Agone had a narrow escape from serious injury when he slipped backwards into the chute throwing down hay, a distance of 21 feet, landing on the stairway in the basement. Wiring the houses in Walton for hydreyg nearly completed and people are looking forward to having the power turned on in the near future. Moses Mann of Alma Corner. met with a serious accident. He was driving a team and wagon at Hohnesville when a wheel dropped into a hole throwing him to the ground. Miss Elsie Henderson and Norman Smith of Winthrop were united in marriage by Ret: J. A. Ferguson. J. Rathwell's new• residence at Varna is nearly completed and it is quite artistic. Misses Annie and Elva Dewar of Bayfield have taken -teaching positions in Toronto. Work on the big bridge at St. Joseph is progressing slowly as the weather has been too wet and some difficulty was experienced with earth caving in. The Seaforth Highlanders Band furnished the music for the Goderich Fair last week. The wheat in McKillop is yielding 40 bushels to the acre and in some instances, close on 50. . Miss Nora Godkin of McKillop Township left to teach school at Bethel in Fullarton Township. • Miss Viola Morrison, Bessie Hillen and Eliza Godkin leave soon to attend Segforth Collegian Institute. September 16, 1949 - Seaforth High School student Cecelia Connolly, Dublin, was picked as 1949s Miss McKillop. Judges W,H. Robinson, London and R.A. Robinson. Regina, selected Miss Connolly from the eight. Mary Melody also of Dublin, won the junior Miss McKillop. Wm. Johnson, who_was. unable to attend the fair had the privilege of seeing seeing the parade go past his farm. J.W. Drysdale, Hensall. • won a prefabricated cottage in a draw at the Canadian National Exhibition. ' A delegation from the Seaforth and District Recreation Centre met with the Agricultural Society to ask for sufficient land on which to erect a building to be used as a Memorial Centre. The trophy donated by The Huron Expositor to the McKillop School Fair for the school having the most number of entries per pupil in the annual fair has been won by SS. No. 6. Afternoon and evening trousseau teas were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Westcott in honour of their daughter, Marguerite. Fire destroyed a barn valued at 515,000 and stored crops from 100 acres on the farm of Ernest Talbot in Stanley Tssp. • Mrs. E.T. Stewart, formerly Miss Florence Foss of Hensall, captured first prize for her biscuits at the Canadian National Exhibition. Mrs. Elgin Dale of Winthrop had the misfortune while using a knife to have four fingers on one hand severely cut. It required 14 stitches to close the wounds. Three men narrowly escaped serious injury when the silo which they were filling on the farm of lames McEwing in Huller, collapsed. Arthur Colson and Wm. Knox who were inside heard a snapping and crackin* noise and hurriedly got out before the' sides caved in. Jarrott Bros. Holstein herd wins at Blvth. James Donaldson rhe herdsman. is wearing a smile that won't t come of J for some tine. Melville Preshvterian- Church, Brussels. was the scene of a pretty wedding when Jean Marie Vail! and Walter Clarence Bett•lev. al! of Morris Twp. Were united in marriage. • September 7, 1974 • Soccer is. now the big game in Seaforth according to one of the coaches of the Seaforth Minor Soccer Association. A biased. source' Sure. but after watching .the enthusiasm and skill of the young boys who play the garner here. you believe him. Seaforth's recreation committee - and the Community Centre Board, have suggested all non- residents taking part in any organized recreation programs in Seaforth he required to purchase a non- . resident use card. The Vanastra Recreation - Committee kicked off the. campaign Saturday night to raise $40.000 to enclose the junior olynipic• size( swimming pool constructed last month. All that's needed to make it the best vet is good weather according to Alf Ross. Seaforth's Agricultural Society president as he discussed the program for the fair that gets under way on Thursday. Okay men, shave vff your beard if you already have one. If you don't, think seriously about growing one.. It can be your birthday present to Seaforth. The town will be 100 y ears olcd in 1975 and a beard growing contest is being held